posted: by: Tammy Chastain DVM Tags: “Clinic Specials” “News” At the beginning of 2021 Alexandria Animal Hospital started offering an exciting option for each pet that comes in for their annual wellness visit. In addition to a thorough physical exam and immunizations, we can now provide testing to get an “internal picture,” if you will, of your pets health. An early detection panel is a lab profile that is tailored to your pets species and age. It includes an annual fecal parasite exam and heartworm test (for dogs), but also analyzes a number of other values on a blood and/or urine specimen that give us insight into your pets internal organ health and function. Liver and kidney values, blood cell counts, thyroid function, and cardiac markers are just a few pieces of information that are provided in some of these panels. Results from this labwork can give us a baseline of comparison for important values while your pet is healthy, in the event he or she becomes ill down the road. It is also a valuable aide in detecting disease conditions early on, where it might be more advantageous to your pet to intervene. This is especially helpful in cats, who tend to be innately wired to hide disease until it has progressed to more advanced stages. In addition, laboratory values such as the ones found on an early detection panel can be helpful in medication and treatment planning for disease conditions such as arthritis or anesthetic planning for a surgical procedure.
An early detection veterinary screening for a dog or cat is easy to do. You can schedule for a blood drawing performed by our experienced technicians, or it can be done as part of an examination with one of our veterinarians. We draw a small blood sample from your pet, and then we send the blood to a veterinary laboratory to have it evaluated.
Catching a canine or feline disease early on allows us to determine if further tests or treatments are needed, or if simply monitoring a condition is warranted. If the lab work turns out to be normal, then of course that is excellent news! It also is an important “point of reference” to know, for instance, if a certain value was previously “borderline elevated” when lab work is run in the future.
That’s why it is important to perform and evaluate feline and canine early detection bloodwork screening on our hairy friends. When your pet is in for their yearly veterinary exam, the technician or doctor will mention our Early Detection Blood Screen. Just like when we go to our own family doctor, blood tests are an important part of the yearly exam
The next time you visit Best Friends Veterinary Hospital in Powell, let’s talk about early detection screening. If we can detect and treat a hidden condition at an early stage, your furry companion will thank you for it!
Does your furry companion have a hidden disease? Many feline and canine diseases have symptoms that are obvious—increased water consumption, decreased activity, changes in appetite, vomiting, or diarrhea, among others.
Wellness testing is not just for dogs and cats who are ill. On a healthy pet, establishing a baseline picture of what represents good health for your individual pet is important when he or she becomes ill at a later time. When basic laboratory testing is done as part of your pet’s annual examination, those values are recorded. Your veterinarian can review your pet’s health record at each subsequent exam and spot any abnormalities or trends sooner, often before serious disease can develop.
Even dogs and cats that appear completely healthy on the outside can have hidden health problems on the inside. When pets are sick, they can’t tell us what’s wrong. That is where laboratory testing comes into play. If these problems are left undetected, they can lead to serious, even life-threatening conditions
Early Cancer Detection Test – Cancer Screening Dogs
Pets can’t tell you how they feel – it’s usually how they look or act that tells you something is wrong.
You play a key role in helping your pet combat illness and stay as healthy as possible. Our Early Detection Testing provides information about your pet’s liver, kidneys & pancreas, blood sugar levels, white & red blood cell and platelet count and so much more.